Forming Bonds
by LokiDancingInTheShire
Summary: Both Molly and Lestrade are feeling down and decide to chat over some drinks. But when they start to develop different ways of looking at each other, their relationship changes.
1. Chapter 1

Lestrade was feeling particularly dispirited on this night. It was about three months after his divorce had been finalized and his lonely and busy life seemed to be wearing him thin. It appeared that he was his own greatest enemy as he tended to over think his situation. It was one of those nights when he just needed a drink and so he made his way to the nearest bar. He spent nearly the first forty minutes there grumbling and brooding to himself as he downed a few beers. That was until he noticed a familiar face across the room. Greg looked up to see the young Molly Hooper out of the lab and looking rather down. He debated with himself over whether or not he should approach her and after a few minutes he sighed deeply and made his way towards her. Molly looked at him wide eyed, surprised to run into him this late at night considering they both had work the next morning.

"Detective, oh.. um, hello, " she started, not knowing where she was going with her statement.

"Oh, Greg. Call me Greg. I'm off duty," he gave a reassuring nod and gestured to the seat next to her, "Mind if I join you?"

She gave a quick glance to the empty space next to her before turning back to him, "Uh.. don't see why not. Yeah, okay." The exchanged small smiles, but it was evident that both of them were not really in the mood for socializing.

At first they sat in silence, not really knowing what to discuss, but the silence between the two was almost unbearable and they both went to break it with a collective, "So?..." Molly gave a slight laugh, not exactly sure as to why, but it had felt appropriate. Greg just cleared his throat and gestured for her to continue.

Molly acknowledged this and began, "What brings you out so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he chuckled. "I just.. sometimes I just need a wind down. I mean, with everything going on right now, the divorce and the cases piling up.." He sighed a bit and turn his gaze towards her. It was the first time her really looked at her. He took in her brown eyes, her smooth, pale complexion, the gentle waves of her hair that framed her face. After a few seconds, Greg realize he had been staring and shifted awkwardly in his seat.

Molly suddenly felt overcome with a sense of guilt and sympathy. She had completely forgotten about the current state of his marriage. "Oh, god, sorry. I'm sorry. I know, it's tough." She wasn't exactly in the best position either. Not after Tom. Their relationship had crumbled quite quickly after their engagement.

"It's.. life. Sooner or later it screws you over," he looked down at his feet and felt the extreme desire to change the subject. "Never mind me, how's it going with... Tom, is it?" He gave a forced smile as if to show support that he didn't actually feel.

Molly quickly took a rather large gulp of her drink before nodding to herself. "He's not really in the picture anymore. Things didn't work out for us." She pauses before coming to a whisper, "But when do they?"

Lestrade had a rush of thoughts ranging from the natural apologetic phase to the sudden relief he had and then to sympathy she mistakes for pity. "I'm.. oh.. I'm sorry. He seemed like a nice bloke. " Later he realized he had been selfish as he remember the happiness he felt. Something about Molly being with Tom rubbed him in the wrong way.

The two of them were quick to change the subject of anything pertaining to relationships and quickly found little things to discuss such as work and their hobbies. Throughout the night they realized they got on quite well and actually had quite a lot of common interests (besides their mutual fascination with murder and dead bodies). Time seemed to escape them as they chatted. Neither of them had barely had a sip from their drinks when they were told they needed to leave. As they headed down the street, Greg summoned a taxi for Molly wished her a good night. She smiled at him and thanked him for a nice evening. The pair exchanged genuine smiles and goodbyes.

As Lestrade walked back to his apartment his thoughts spin out of control as he recalled certain details about Molly. He admitted to himself that she wasn't unattractive. He immediately shook his head as an attempt to clear his mind from these thoughts. Besides, what would Molly ever want from the Detective? He decided to just sleep off the night and the booze.

Meanwhile, Molly lay in her bed with thoughts of Greg. All different directions seemed to lead her back to one thought: he was handsome man. But Molly was just a child compared to him and far out of his league. She decided it would be best if they kept this.. could you call it a relationship? I mean.. they just shared a few drinks and some small talk.. But it would be best if they stayed acquaintances. Definitely.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I got the idea for the Yin-Yang killer after watching some old episodes of Psych. It's another one of my favorite crime solving shows. I wanted to go down the path of a serious case and gradually show how it affects Molly and Lestrade. Hope you enjoy. **

The next few weeks were rather quiet between Molly and Greg. It was full of awkward meetings in the morgue whenever Lestrade needed information on a body and small waves at each other. It would seem that their relationship was on pause. Molly had been caught up in a few autopsies. Greg was swarmed with cases. It wasn't until a new serial killer emerged that the two really crossed paths again.

He (or so it was thought that it was a man) was called the Yin-Yang killer. In actuality, no one had ever really seen him or gotten a description. The man was good and so were his methods. He would leave riddles made from magazine letters or other obscure items that were directed towards one specific person who he had expected to solve his game. Of course this meant that Sherlock had his plate full.

It started when a body was reported off the side of the road. Left behind was a small yin-yang sign that only Sherlock would recognize. While searching the body, Sherlock discovered a small crumbled up letter inside the woman's pocket along with a stopwatch that was already counting down from one hour and twenty three minutes. Greg had taken notice that Sherlock seemed puzzled by the riddle, which in turn caused him severe frustration.

Sherlock, being.. himself, had deduced the meaning behind the riddle in about 15 minutes. It wasn't until then that any of them had realized how much danger they were actually in. Sherlock, John, Lestrade, and a back up team quickly made their way to 221B Baker Street. It was evident that Sherlock was particularly worried as he rushed inside calling out, "Mrs. Hudson!" repeatedly and scrambled about to find her. Within Mrs. Hudson's kitchen they found another riddle and a timer.

This "game" kept going on until late at night when they had managed to rescue Mrs. Hudson, but never even got close to Yang. But that was last week and Sherlock still seemed troubled by it. He would sit in his chair all day, barely speaking, just thinking. John was worried and could barely get him to respond to his questions of concern. He would sit there and mutter to himself until suddenly he had an outburst. "He's was watching! He had to have been."

John looked clueless as always, "Sorry, what?" And of course Sherlock just rolled his eyes in his "How can you be so clueless" manner. "John, Yang, he was there the whole time, watching. How else do you explain him knowing every little detail. I don't think this is over."

Molly had been doing paper work on the murder victim when Greg had come into the morgue. He needed the details of the murder and it was a chance to clear up some of the tension between them. "Oh, Detective, Greg, hi." Molly's sudden sense of awkwardness filled the air and must have spread to Lestrade.

"Hello, Molly. Just.. here for some paper work." He nodded to himself and half smiled at her. "Right, yeah. It's on my desk," she pointed at the mess of papers on her desk as Lestrade made his way to look through the piles. He managed to sort out the things he needed and gave her a thank you as he walked toward the door. For some reason he hesitated at the door and turned back to her. "Uh, Molly.. Listen.. I was wondering if you'd-" He was cut off by the sound of his ringing phone and muttered a curse to himself before answering it. "Damn it! There's been another murder. I'll, uh, I'll get back to you." He quickly made his way out of St. Bart's and phoned Sherlock to inform him of the news. This time both Lestrade and Sherlock wanted to catch the bastard.


End file.
